European History Commons^™

A Strand In The Web: My Amish Roots Among The Swiss Anabaptists, Duane Schlabach

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The early morning summer sun cuts through the murmuring leaves of the towering maple tree rooted deeply on the edge of the large common area in Interlaken, Switzerland. It’s 2018, and the pealing bells from the Schlosskirche [castle church] still cut through the ground fog hanging along the water’s edge, crescendo over the lakes, and reverberate off the cliff walls like it has for countless generations. The pull of ancestral voices from the misty northern shorelines of Lake Thun in Oberhofen settles deep into the marrow of my identity. I stand in my Heimatort [place of origin] the land where …

Sahs Presentation At The Swiss Society Of Boston’S Annual Meeting

Swiss American Historical Society Review

On Saturday, April 12, SAHS President Thomas Quinn Marabello was invited to speak at the Swiss Society of Boston’s annual meeting and dinner in Boston, Massachusetts. It was held at the Hampshire House in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood, a mansion built in 1911 by architect Ogden Codman, Jr., who designed several mansions in Newport, Rhode Island, including The Breakers. The five-story Georgian revival townhouse with Italian marble and Palladian windows look out onto Boston Public Garden. The first residents, Bayard and Ruth Thayer, held many salons there and it became Boston’s preeminent salon. In the 1940s, Hampshire House became a …

Centennial Committee Update

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Centennial Committee met virtually on February 8th and March 22nd, and is meeting again on June 7th. We have made some decisions and continue to explore options, partners and possibilities as we plan for our big anniversary in 2027!

In The Footsteps Of Our Swiss Ancestors: Sahs Centennial Trip To Switzerland

Swiss American Historical Society Review

We have enough people interested in this trip that we are working with European Educational Travel based in Basel, Switzerland and are able to provide further information, including an itinerary. This trip is open to SAHS members and non-members, and if we have to cap numbers it will be based on a first come, first served basis.

End Matter

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

On The Linguistic History Of The Swiss Amish In Indiana, Tobias Frick

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Between 1789 and 1914, about half a million Swiss citizens left their country to find new opportunities abroad.1 By 1880, more than 88,000 Swiss had settled in the United States of America.2 These immigrants carried not only their earthly possessions and their knowledge to the foreign lands, but also brought their Swiss German dialects i.e. their linguistic varieties with them. In most settlements, the Swiss vernaculars were replaced by the majority language of English at some point. The Swiss settlers in New Glarus, Wisconsin, for example, upheld their linguistic variety for several generations before shifting to English.3 An exception is …

An Insight Into The “Berglihütte” In 1908: Grindelwald Mountain Guides – Frozen For The Star Photographer, Karl Horat

Swiss American Historical Society Review

We are in 1908, inside the “Berglihütte”, which had been built by the Grindelwald section of the Swiss Alpine Club almost forty years earlier. Since then, it has been perched like an eagle’s nest on a rocky ridge in the middle of the sea of ice at an altitude of around 3,300 meters.

From The Ambassador’S Desk, C. Naseer Ahmad

Swiss American Historical Society Review

An ambassador is an official representative appointed by a country’s government to manage diplomatic relations and promote its interests in a foreign nation or international organization. This role is as vital as it is diverse, involving a wide array of responsibilities that go beyond traditional diplomacy. Ambassadors must deftly juggle numerous tasks, all essential to the development and maintenance of peaceful international relationships. They serve not only as representatives of their nation’s government but also as stewards of its interests, charged with boosting economic, cultural, and political ties with their host country.

Front Matter

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Meet The New Additions To The Sahs Editorial Board

Swiss American Historical Society Review

With an increase in article submissions and book proposals, the Editorial Board is happy to add two new members to our ranks. Jocelyn Moore and Jonah Schaller have already been very helpful proofreading and making suggestions to articles that we receive. They join Tom Marabello, Marianne Derron, Richard Hacken, Jurg Siegenthaler and Rob Sherwood as additions to the dedicated volunteer SAHS Editorial Board.

The Friends Of The Swiss American Historical Society Annual Outing And General Meeting In The Historic Château D’Hauteville, Canton Vaud, St. Légier, Barbara Miller

Swiss American Historical Society Review

In cooperation and with the generous help of Yvon Bordet and Pepperdine University Swiss Campus, this year’s annual outing will take place on Wednesday, September 10, 2025, starting in Ouchy Lausanne at 11:55 and then traveling to Vevey by boat. We will meet at the boat harbor in Ouchy Lausanne at 11:40 AM. To get there you take either a bus or the metro across the street from Lausanne station to go to Ouchy Olympique.

Memorial Day – May 23, 2024: Wreath Laying Ceremony In Münsingen, Canton Bern, Switzerland, Barbara Müller

Swiss American Historical Society Review

It was a rather cold rainy day in May when the U.S. Embassy celebrated Memorial Day services in a village in Bern-Mittelland. Why here in this village of Münsingen?

I received the invitation to attend the service, and with the cold rainy day my thoughts turned from World War II and the many victims to another war much too close for comfort that of Ukraine. I seemed not to be the only one with these thoughts, as after the Bugle call when the Deputy Chief of Mission Bradford J. Bell just before his speech mentioned the ongoing war in Ukraine …

Proposed Changes To Discuss & Vote On At The 2025 Sahs Annual Meeting

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Members will have an opportunity to discuss and vote on the two following items at the annual general meeting in New York City on October 4, 2025. If you are unable to attend in person or virtually, and have any questions or comments, please send an email to: [email protected].

B17 Aircraft, Known As “Denny Boy”, Yvon Bordet

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The B17 “Denny Boy” took off from the British base at Thurleigh (England) on the night of Saturday, July 15 to Sunday, July 16, 1944. Objective: To bomb the BMW factories in Munich (Germany).

The aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire near its target, then again on the return to Mulhouse. Smoke filled the cockpit, an engine failed and the plane lost altitude. The captain decided to attempt a landing in neutral Switzerland. But it was in a small field, near a chapel, that he miraculously managed to land the bomber, in the commune of Féternes... in France, just a …

Swiss American Historical Society Annual General Meeting: October 3–4, 2025, New York City

Swiss American Historical Society Review

We are pleased to offer members a tour of the United Nations Headquarters building on the afternoon of Friday, October 3rd. The building is closed to visitors that day, but thanks to the staff at the Swiss Consulate, they have arranged a guided tour for us at 4:00 PM! If you want to do the tour, there is a question on the required registration Google Form that is linked on the next page (and it has also been sent by email to all members). The cost is $20.00 per person and we can take a maximum of 20 people on …

Awards For Outstanding Papers Written In 2024

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

Failure For Avon, Failure For Labour A Waterworks Project And The Shortcomings Of Left-Wing Groups In Pre-Wwi Aberdeen, Garrett Mast

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

On September 16th, 1909, the Aberdeen Daily Journal ran a single article that encompassed one and a half pages of the ten- page printing. This article did not discuss any national or international news, but rather a town council meeting for the city of Aberdeen in northern Scotland. This meeting was anything but standard procedure, lasting six and a half hours, a record for the council with at least 27 of the 34 councillors participating in the debate. The debate discussed the rather mundane question of from which river the council should seek approval for pumping new drinking water.1 “The …

A Historical And Legal Analysis Of The Life Of Ellett Robinson, Abigail Hilbig

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

To look deeply into the lives of individuals is to begin to understand the intricacies of American life. Ellett Robinson was an African American woman, born at the inception of the twentieth century. Like the century she lived through, Ellett’s life was defined by sociocultural concepts that began long before she came to be. Perceptions of race and the family were being transformed throughout the 1800s and 1900s. Born into this tumultuous time, Ellett was destined to experience the prejudice that existed against African Americans in the South. With slaves having been freed just thirty- six years before Ellett’s birth, …

La Junta Development Of U.S. Opinion And Interaction With Chile, 1970–1981, Carson Cambell

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

It was hot outside in the late afternoon of the seventeenth of September when Charles Horman stepped out of his car. Horman was exhausted from a long day of many futile attempts to contact the United States ambassador in Santiago, Chile. Many hours were spent in the endeavor to secure emergency travels back to the U.S., but thus far there was no success to be found. Carrying such important information regarding the successful coup of the Chilean General, Augusto Pinochet, Horman knew he needed to reach the safety of his home country.11 The American journalist entered his house, and mere …

“No Finger In The Dike Could Have Stopped It” The Effects Of The Governmental Failures Surrounding The Teton Dam Flood, Brooke Wilks

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Lyle H. Moon, mayor of Sugar City, Idaho, was a petroleum man. He drove trucks for the greater area of Southeastern Idaho, supplying all their petroleum needs. On June 5, 1976, his route took him within a mile and a half of the Teton Dam. Unbeknownst to him, the dam had sprung several leaks that morning. Two bulldozer crews labored through the morning, trying desperately to plug the holes. While on his route, radio operators called him and told him to drive away from the dam as quickly as possible. Thinking it was a joke, Moon quipped, “Tell me another …

The Possession Of John Toldervy Early Quakerism And The Polarization Of Print Polemic In Cromwellian England, Hyrum Veach

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In the winter of 1655, ex- demoniac, dismissed apprentice, and sometime Quaker John Toldervy published a short memoir entitled The Foot out of the Snare.1 The pamphlet presented itself as a part conversion narrative and part anti- Quaker exposé, and told a startling story of demonic possession. After Toldervy became a Quaker, he told his readers, his mind was corrupted by a “seducing spirit” that convinced him that he was both Christ and the Archangel Michael and drove him to perform many bizarre acts.2 Two months later, after a brief pamphlet war with soon- to- be- disgraced Quaker James Nayler,3 …

Superheroes To Regular Joes The Vietnam War Through The Lens Of American Comic Books And Cartoons, Ella Henricksen

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Historians generally agree that American comic books got their start in 1842 with Rodolphe Töpffer’s The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck,1 but pairing images with text is far from a novel idea—it is practically as old as the invention of writing. By the late 1800s, cartoons and caricatures were staples in papers. Satirical editorial cartoons poked at serious issues, and single- panel gag cartoons showed a humorous picture with a caption. Short comic strips like The Yellow Kid featured regularly appearing characters,2 and in 1933, Famous Funnies (a reprinting of popular humorous news comic strips) finally made the jump to …

Sounds Of Solidarity Pan Africanism, Internationalism, And The Black Experience At Blue Note Records, Nathan Neher

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Blue Note Records is considered one of the most prolific and influential independent American jazz record labels of the mid- twentieth century. The label was founded in 1939 by German- Jewish immigrant Alfred Lion who had fled Nazi Germany. Lion’s longtime friend, Francis Wolff, would later also leave Germany to join Lion and help with photography and other business affairs.1 Originally recording traditional jazz and swing groups, Blue Note transitioned to modern jazz in 1947, eventually helping facilitate the development of hard bop, post- bop, and avant- garde jazz in the mid- twentieth century.2 Lion played a prominent role in …

Pain For Profit The Motivations Of Slave Surgeons In The Eighteenth To Nineteenth Century Caribbean, Gabe Smock

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

When late eighteenth- century British surgeon Dr. Alexander Falconbridge ventured belowdecks to check on the hundreds of slaves chained there, he had no illusions about the horrors of the Middle Passage. After all, this was not his first voyage providing medical care for slaves until they disembarked at the infamous markets of colonial Kingston, Jamaica. He took a moment to brace himself, then ventured down into the damp air below only to encounter a sight so awful that it was difficult to put into words when he recounted the experience years later to Parliament. As a consequence of being packed …

“Radio . . . What [Is It] Doing To Our Children?” The Impact Of Radio On Families During The Golden Age Of Broadcasting, Samuel Pulsipher

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Eerie string music, a dark cackle of laughter, and then a sinister voice says, “Who knows what evils lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows.”3 Suddenly, an interruption by the Goodrich Man. He has something to say about Goodrich tires with their lifesaving tread and blow- out protection: “So, play safe, equip your car with Goodrich, safety Silvertown!” The Goodrich- Man is ushered out by organ music as our hero Lamont Cranston, the Shadow, is introduced. He is heralded as a man of wealth and science who devotes his life to righting wrongs, protecting the innocent, and punishing …

Rap And Rhyme An Insider Look On African American Life In Urban America, Rachel Van Katwyk

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Thousands of hands clapped and cheered for the rap artists heralded as the rock stars of the age. Fans packed into Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena, chanting to hear the song they all wanted to scream. F*** the Police. T he rap group, N.W.A., toured America in the summer of 1989 and was contractually obligated to forgo performing that particular song. Scattered among the crowd were police officers ready to take action if the song started playing. N.W.A. called an audible, and DJ Yella projected the song from the speakers for thirty seconds before three sharp shots were heard. At the …

Personal Politicking Dolores Huerta’S Key Contributions To Farmworker Organizing, Keylla Ortega

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

When she was just in her mid- twenties, Dolores Huerta served as a board member of one of the most influential mid- century civic organizations in California, the Community Service Organization (CSO). Huerta quickly established herself as a key voice in the farmworker movement for labor rights, but she recognized early on that as a woman she had to work strategically to win votes in board meetings. She later recalled, “If I wanted to get a vote on a tough case, like to fight the police department, I had to really use . . . all of this personal kind …

Editor's Preface, Brett Bodily

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.